Provides Law Library
Services For Incarcerated
Henning 42
We will soon be meeting in Washington, D.C. for AALL. I am looking
forward
to seeing everyone at our breakfast or the GLL’s Business Meeting,
Breakfast
and Silent Auction as it is officially known bright and early on
Sunday morning
at 7:30 am. I am excited that we have Martha Bergmark, the
Executive Direc-
tor of Voices for Civil Justice, as our SIS VIP. Per the website
“Voices for Civil
Justice is a national communications initiative that taps the
awareness-
raising power of the media to spotlight the critical role of civil
legal aid in as-
suring fairness for all in the justice system.” (Please check the
Voices website
out for more details on their work.) Those of us who serve the
public are well
aware of the value of public law libraries as a vital component on
the continu-
um of civil legal aid services. I hope that we will find
inspiration and guidance
in spreading the word beyond the library community from Martha
Bergmark.
This is in keeping with the work of Publicity and Publications
Committee that
will lead to video that we all can use to promote the value of our
law library.
Another project that will promote and illustrate the law library
service to the
self-represented litigant is the Self-Represented Litigant Network
Survey,
“Law Libraries Serving Self-Represented Litigants Across the
Country.” Sara
Galligan put in many hours creating the survey and working with the
results –
look for the poster session on Tuesday, July 16 from 10:00 to 11:00
a.m. to
discuss but the poster will be on display during exhibit hall
hours. Thanks to a
grant from the AALL Research Fund, the results are being mapped to
create a
story map. It will be an interactive tool illustrating services
provided, commu-
nities served and library partnerships. Let’s get the word out and
let everyone
know how great we are.
The GLL-SIS sponsored program this year, Surfing the Horizons: Law
Librar-
ies, Pro Bono, and Community Resource Partners for Access to
Justice, con-
tinues this theme. Jenny Silbiger working with Julia Viets,
Education Chair,
has put together a program that will discuss how partnering with
community
and pro bono resources can maximize your services, identify the
services
and programs that are a good fit for your patrons, and how working
together
Summer 2019 GLL News
View from the Chair
Joan Bellistri, GLL-SIS Chair, Ann Arundel County Public Law
Library
A Newsletter of the Government Law Libraries Special Interest
Section of the American Association of Law Libraries
Page 2 GLL News
GLL News is published three times a year (Fall, Winter/Spring, and
Summer) by the Government Law Libraries SIS. The deadline for the
next
issue is September 13, 2019. Please contact the Co-Editors,
Christine Morton,
[email protected], and Sara
Pic,
[email protected], with questions, comments, suggestions, and
submissions.
The Government Law Libraries SIS does not assume any responsibility
for the statements advanced by the contributors in this
newsletter.
The opinions expressed in GLL News are those of the authors and do
not necessarily reflect the views of GLL-SIS.
Page 2 GLL News
can improve access to justice for all. In addition to the law
librarians on the
panel, Jenny, Sara Galligan and I (excuse the self-promotion here)
will be
speaking with Steve Scudder, retired director of the ABA Center for
Pro Bono so
that we can get the non-library perspective. Mark your calendar for
Monday at
3:00.
And don’t forget the LISP/GLL/SR-SIS Roundtable on Law Library
Services to
Prisoners and Public Patrons on Monday at 1:30. The theme this year
is PACER:
litigation, legislation, and access issues.
As we prepare for AALL this year, remember to contribute to the
Silent Auction
– donate, bid and buy – and support the work of our Grants
Committee.
Although I was hopeful that we would be funding for a proper
reception this year, we did
not. However, we don’t have to let that stop us from getting
together. Like last year, we
will be meeting for the GLL-SIS Social Hour in the Marquis Marriott
Lobby Bar at 5:30 on
Monday (BYOD – buy your own drink). Hope to see you there.
I feel that as soon as we all get working on our GLL-SIS committee
projects, the year is just
about over. I want to thank all who volunteered to do this GLL-SIS
committee work. I know
how much we have to do in our libraries with so little time. It is
truly appreciated. THANK
YOU! Please be ready to answer the call when Jenny Silbiger becomes
GLL-SIS Chair, so
this great work can continue.
View from the Chair (continued)
Joan Bellistri, GLL-SIS Chair, Ann Arundel County Public Law
Library
Joan Bellistri, GLL-SIS Chair
Page 3 GLL News
This issue of the GLL News offers inspiration from both the
newest
of librarian hopefuls and seasoned librarians. Michael Keever
chronicles his internship experience at the LA Law Library
and
encourages librarians to continue to provide support for
student
librarians. Next, two government law librarians offer
inspiration
through their work on behalf of self-represented litigants.
Sara
Galligan and members of the Self Represented Litigation
Network
have created a research project and survey to assess law
library
services to self-represented litigants. Mary Pinard Johnson and
the
Sacramento County Public Law Library provide law library services
to incarcerated citizens
in California. In addition, Jenny Silbiger recounts her experience
at the 2019 Equal Justice
Conference.
As summer gets underway, government law librarians will continue
their efforts to
strengthen their knowledge by attendance at the AALL Annual Meeting
in Washington, D.C.
Not sure of which of the many programs to attend at the meeting? Be
sure to read the
descriptions of and quotations about programs that are geared
toward government law
librarians. Kathy Carlson interviews Jacque Jurkins, a recipient of
the 2019 Marion Gould
Gallagher Distinguished Services Award. Jean Willis introduces
Martha Bergmark, Voices
for Civil Justice, and the GLL-SIS 2019 VIP and business meeting
keynote speaker. Also,
either before or during the business meeting, please consider
bidding on items featured in
the Silent Auction or donating to the Fundraising Campaign.
This issue concludes by paying tribute to Coral Henning, Sacramento
County Public Law
Library, and posthumous recipient of the Bethany J. Ochal Award for
Distinguished Service
to the Profession.
Sara Pic, Law Library of Louisiana
Christine Morton,
AALL 2019 CONFERENCE APP (sponsored by Wolters Kluwer)
You may remember that last year the printed program distributed at
the annual conference
looked a little different. The "right-sized" booklet still includes
a simplified events index, but
you'll find more comprehensive (and current) information online, on
the conference app.
From your mobile device, just visit eventmobi.com/aall2019 or
search for "AALL 2019" in
your app store (iTunes or Android) and download the app today.
You'll be able to:
Build your personalized agenda
Sync your desktop planning
Access detailed program, meeting, and event information
Use the search bar to easily find scheduled events, speakers,
and
attendees--for programs, you can do a quick search by alphanumeric
code
View interactive floor maps
Receive important updates and notifications--including prize
drawing
winners
Remember to accept "push notifications" to receive important
announcements, emergency
notifications, and reminders while you're at the conference. Don't
have a mobile device?
You can still build your own schedule by visiting the app on your
computer.
AALL 2019 BUSINESS MEETING
NEW THIS YEAR / SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS EARLY
During the Members Open Forum (immediately following the AALL
Business Meeting), AALL
Executive Board officers will be available to respond to member
questions regarding AALL,
and its programs and activities. In previous years, a printed card
was included in the
registration bags for members to submit their questions in advance
of the meeting. This
year, to offer members additional time to submit a question and to
reduce our
environmental footprint, members can submit their questions in
advance (by Friday, June
28). Members can also ask questions from the floor, but it is
strongly encouraged you
submit your questions in advance as time is limited.
AALL Announcements
RAMSEY COUNTY LAW LIBRARY RECEIVES AWARD
The Ramsey County Law Library, led by GLL-SIS member Sara Galligan,
was this year’s
Liberty Bell Award recipient from the Ramsey County Bar
Association.
From the announcement:
The mission of the Ramsey County Law Library is "to provide the
best legal
information services" to residents of Ramsey County and recognizes
that
"[l]egal information is a basic component of access to
justice." As eloquently stated by Sarah McEllistrem of
Collins, Buckley, Sauntry & Haugh, P.L.L.P., who
nominated the Library for the Award, the work of the
Library and its staff under the able leadership of Library
Director Sara Galligan "exemplifies the qualities that the
Liberty Bell Award embodies. The Library promotes a
better understanding of our government and access to
justice for all citizens. It encourages respect for the law
and the courts... Because of their efforts, they
contribute to the effective functioning of the courts and
each person's responsibility under the law." The Library
provides a free clinic for individuals facing Housing or
Conciliation Court, hosts criminal expungement
workshops, plans and offers CLEs, and provides
shadowing opportunities for law students. Based on these
outstanding efforts,
Ramsey County Law Library is a very well-deserved recipient of the
Liberty Bell
Award for 2019.
Congratulations to Sara and everyone at the Ramsey County Law
Library!
SCOTT BURGH NAMED DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS
GLL-SIS member Scott Burgh was named Distinguished
Alumnus of the University of Illinois School of Information
Sciences. Congratulations, Scott!
Executive Board – Meeting Minutes
Date and Time: Tuesday, February 12, 2019, 3:00 p.m. Eastern
In Attendance: J. Bellistri, H. Gerber, R. Mead, J. Lawson, J.
Silbiger, C. Morton, J. Durham
Meeting Leader: J. Bellistri
Scribe: J. Durham
Date of Next Meeting: Wednesday, April 24, 2019 @ 2:00 p.m.
Eastern
Meeting Minutes and Agenda
Preliminary Items:
Joe moved to approve the agenda. Seconded by Jenny. Approved
unanimously.
The meeting minutes from the previous GLL Board meeting on Tues.,
Dec. 4, 2018,
were approved unanimously, with a motion from Rob, seconded by
Jenny.
Other Business:
James provided the Secretary / Treasurer’s Report. He stated that
AALL headquarters
has issued a final annual financial report, which contains a
correction to the tentative
report, adding a $381.00 cash deposit. GLL Restricted Funds total
$11,360.58. GLL
Unrestricted Funds total $23,368.00. Total GLL balance is
$34,728.58.
Jenny provided updates from the Membership & Mentoring
Committee and the Technol-
ogy Committee, which is seeking input on a project to update the
online toolkit.
Rob provided updates on the Advocacy and Standards
Committees.
Joan stated that the Education Committee is working on a webinar,
and planning a GLL-
sponsored program for the annual conference. The Nominations
Committee has assem-
bled the slate for the upcoming election.
James provided updates on the Awards and Grants Committees.
Christine added that a
recipient had been chosen for the Management Institute Grant.
Joe stated that the Publicity & Public Relations Committee is
working on a GLL stories
project. He also provided an update on the Standards
Committee.
Christine provided an update on the Newsletter Committee, saying
that candidates for
the GLL election would appear in the next issue.
Holly provided an update on the Bylaws Committee.
Joan proposed that the tickets for the GLL-SIS Breakfast Meeting
& Silent Auction
should be increased to $28.00. (This follows an online discussion
on the topic by the
Page 7 GLL News
Executive Board Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, February 12, 2019 (continued)
GLL Board members.) James moved. Jenny seconded. The updated fee
passed unani-
mously.
Jenny proposed that GLL provide a $250.00 honorarium to the speaker
for the GLL-
sponsored program in July. James moved. Rob seconded. The proposal
passed unani-
mously. (GLL also will be providing reimbursement to the speaker
for airfare from New
Hampshire and any meals incurred during the visit. AALL will be
providing a one-day
free registration to attend conference events.)
Joan stated that AALL headquarters is seeking vendor sponsorship
for a GLL reception
at the annual conference. If no sponsor is located, GLL will meet
for an informal happy
hour.
Rob Mead will be handling the administration of the GLL-SIS online
election, which ten-
tatively is scheduled from Monday, March 18 – Monday, April 8,
2019.
Action Items From This Meeting:
Provide update on possible funding of GLL reception by vendors.
Assigned to: Joan.
Date due: Next conference call.
Executive Board Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Executive Board – Meeting Minutes
Date and Time: Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 2:00 p.m. Eastern
In Attendance: J. Bellistri, R. Mead, C. Ebbinghouse, J. Silbiger,
J. Lawson, J. Durham, S. Pic
Meeting Leader: J. Bellistri
Scribe: J. Durham
Date of Next Meeting: Wednesday, June 26, 2019 @ 2:00 p.m.
Eastern
Meeting Minutes and Agenda
Preliminary Items:
Jenny moved to approve the agenda. Seconded by Carol. Approved
unanimously.
The meeting minutes from the previous GLL Board meeting on Tues.,
Feb. 12, 2018,
were approved unanimously, with a motion from Jenny, seconded by
James.
Page 8 GLL News
Executive Board Meeting Minutes
Other Business:
James provided the Secretary / Treasurer’s Report. According to the
most recent finan-
cial report from AALL headquarters: GLL Restricted Funds total
$11,360.58. GLL Unre-
stricted Funds total $23,498.00. Total GLL balance is $34,858.58.
Since that time, we
have received a $100.00 donation from a member. James noted that
Paula Davidson
was no longer employed by the AALL business office. So, Ruth
Gonzalez currently is
handling requests. James sent a sympathy card to the husband of
former GLL-SIS
Board member, Coral Henning.
Carol said that the Best A2J Practices Committee will be soliciting
input from GLL mem-
bers regarding their outreach programs to public librarians. This
information will be
used to draft the Best A2J Practices Guide on teaching legal
research sources to public
librarians.
James said that the GLL Awards Committee had selected 2019
recipients: Coral Hen-
ning (posthumously), Carol Ebbinghouse, Terry Long, and Mariann
Sears will receive the
Bethany J. Ochal Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession.
Stefanie Perlman
will receive the Connie E. Bolden Publication Award. The Harris
County Law Library staff
will receive the Dr. Joel Fishman Professional Publication Award.
The awards will be pre-
sented at the annual GLL Breakfast Meeting and Silent Auction in
D.C. this summer.
James presented the 2019 – 2020 budget proposal from the GLL Grants
Committee.
The Committee asked for $6,000.00 total: two $1,500.00 grants to
attend AALL in New
Orleans; one $1,500.00 grant to attend the SRLN conference; and one
$1,500.00
grant to attend the AALL leadership conference. This proposal is
similar to the pro-
posals from the past few years. The proposal passed unanimously,
with a motion from
Jenny, seconded by Carol.
Sara said that the GLL Newsletter editors are soliciting articles
for the next issue, which
has a June 7 deadline. The issue will be published before the
annual conference.
Rob said that the GLL Advocacy Committee is seeking input for
priorities from the GLL
Board. The Committee will be participating in lobbying efforts
during the annual confer-
ence.
Jenny provided updates from the Membership & Mentoring
Committee. The skills inven-
tory is being opened to members of ALL-SIS. The Committee will be
submitting an arti-
cle on the topic to the ALL-SIS Newsletter.
Joe said the GLL Public Relations Committee is considering video
clips for the GLL sto-
ries project.
Joan mentioned that the Nominations Committee had completed its
work for the year.
Joe discussed options for updating the GLL strategic plan next
year.
Page 9 GLL News
Executive Board Meeting Minutes
GLL– SIS Election Results
Rob Mead, GLL-SIS Board Member, Washington State Law Library
Rob mentioned that the GLL Standards Committee will create a
schedule for updates of
the GLL standards documents.
Joan mentioned that she and Sara Galligan had secured a $5,000.00
LexisNexis grant
for a cooperative effort between GLL and SRLN to convert data from
the SRL survey in-
to geographic mapping. Sara plans to conduct a poster session
during the annual con-
ference about the project and to contribute an article to the GLL
Newsletter.
Jenny said that she is moving forward with preparations and the
panel for the GLL-
sponsored program for the D.C. conference.
Joan is working on breakfast and happy hour plans for the annual
conference.
The meeting was ended with a motion from Carol, seconded by Rob,
with unanimous
approval from the Board.
Action Items From This Meeting:
Please provide updates from GLL committees prior to the next
conference call. As-
signed to: GLL Board Liaisons. Date due: Next conference
call.
The GLL-SIS Board would like to thank everyone who ran for office
in the 2019 election.
The new officers are:
Vice-Chair/Chair Elect James G. Durham, Deputy Director, Maryland
State Law Library
Secretary/Treasurer Karen Westwood, Library Director, Hennepin
County Law Library
Member-at-Large Liz Reppe, State Law Librarian, Minnesota State Law
Library
Thanks again on behalf of the GLL-SIS Board!
James Durham
GLL-SIS 2019-2020
Vice-Chair/Chair Elect
Karen Westwood
GLL-SIS 2019-2020
Page 10 GLL News
2019 GLL-SIS Grant Recipients
Susan Falk, GLL-SIS Grants Committee Chair, Alaska State Court Law
Library
GLL-SIS Grants Committee Fundraising Campaign
Susan Falk, GLL-SIS Grants Committee Chair, Alaska State Court Law
Library
This year, the Grants Committee awarded four $1,500 grants to SIS
members attending
professional and educational conferences. Our grants are largely
funded by us, the GLL-SIS
members. On behalf of the Grants Committee, I urge all of you to
consider donating to the
GLL-SIS Grant Fund. Every little bit counts, and even small
donations can add up to sub-
stantial support for our members to attend educational conferences
next year. If you have
been a recipient of a GLL-SIS grant in the past, this is a great
opportunity to extend the
same assistance to another member in the future.
Last year, the Silent Auction and Fundraising Campaign raised over
$4,000 to support
membership grants. The 2018 Silent Auction included 27 items
donated by 13 individuals,
raising a total of $866. In addition, 24 GLL-SIS members donated
$3,230 in monetary con-
tributions ranging from $2 to $1,000. In all, the Fundraising
Campaign raised $4,096 to
support our member’s continuing education. Can we top that amazing
total this year?
You do not need to attend the AALL Annual Meeting to contribute to
the campaign. Checks
or money orders can be mailed to our Secretary/Treasurer:
The Grants Committee was thrilled to award grants to the following
GLL-SIS
members to attend conferences in 2019:
Emily Bergfeld, Director, Alameda County Law Library, Oakland,
California.
$1,500 AALL Management Institute Grant
Mary Jo Lazun, Director, Charles County Public Law Library, La
Plata,
Maryland.
Leslie Greenwood, Reference Librarian, Minnesota State Law Library,
St. Paul,
Minnesota.
Stephen Parks, State Librarian, Mississippi Supreme Court, Jackson,
Mississippi.
$1,500 AALL Annual Meeting Grant
Thank you to all GLL-SIS members who applied for a grant this year.
We had many
qualified applicants, all of whom deserved funding to attend
conferences. If you applied for
a grant and were not selected this year, please consider applying
again in the future.
Susan Falk, Chair
GLL-SIS Grants Committee
GLL-SIS Grants Committee Fundraising Campaign (continued)
Susan Falk, GLL-SIS Grants Committee Chair, Alaska State Court Law
Library
By the time you read this notice, the 2019 GLL-SIS Silent Auction
will either
be open for business or opening very soon! Each year the revenue
from our
auction provides funding for the GLL-SIS Grants Program. In
addition to
outright cash/check donations (which are always appreciated!), the
revenue
from our Silent Auction permits members to attend the AALL Annual
Meeting,
the Equal Access to Justice Conference and other professional
development
opportunities.
This year's auction opens for bidding Monday, June 24, 2019 -- and
will
continue until we suspend the online bidding on Monday, July 8th at
5:00 pm (Eastern
Daylight Time). The auction will resume "live" on Sunday, July 14,
2019 at the GLL-SIS
Breakfast and Business Meeting in the Marriott, Level 1, University
of DC Meeting Room at
7:30 am.
Our SIS needs your donations to make this one of our most
successful years. Need ideas?
Perhaps you or someone you know is creative and would welcome the
opportunity to
support government law librarians? Perhaps there are items unique
to your city and/or
state? Jewelry, scarves, books, cards, and food (chocolate!!!) are
always popular items, as
well as other small and/or light weight items easily transported by
airplane.
After you've collected your items for donation, please send a
*separate* email message
for each to
[email protected].
2019 GLL-SIS Silent Auction
State Law Library
Robert C. Murphy Courts of Appeal Building
361 Rowe Boulevard
Annapolis, MD 21401-1697
The check or money order should be payable to GLL-SIS. Please list
donation in the memo
space at the bottom of the check. Contributions are tax deductible,
and you will receive a
written acknowledgement of your donation from the Grants
Committee.
On behalf of the Grants Committee, thank you in advance for your
generosity!
Gail Warren
Gail Warren, GLL-SIS Grants Committee Silent Auction Coordinator,
Virginia State Law Library
1. a picture of the item
2. brief description
4. the minimum opening bid
Bring your items with you to the GLL-SIS Breakfast Meeting. We'll
have the tables and
corresponding bid sheets ready. Or, if you're not attending the
AALL Annual Meeting or the
GLL-SIS Breakfast Meeting, send them by way of a colleague. It's
that simple!
2019 GLL-SIS Longevity Awards
Kathy Carlson, GLL-SIS Membership & Mentoring Committee Member,
Office of the
Wyoming Attorney General
The Membership and Mentoring Committee is proud to recognize the
following
individuals with their longevity awards. These GLLers have been
members of AALL
for twenty years and associated with SCCLL/GLL-SIS for ten of those
years. Please
congratulate:
Karen Westwood
They will be acknowledged and their certificates and pins awarded
at the GLL-SIS
Breakfast and Business Meeting.
2019 GLL-SIS Awards
Jean L. Willis, GLL-SIS Awards Committee Chair, Sacramento County
Public Law Library
The Awards Committee is happy to announce the winners of the
2018-2019 GLL-SIS
Awards.
The Bethany J. Ochal Award for Distinguished Service to the
Profession
This award is presented to a GLL-SIS member who has made a
significant contribution
to law librarianship and who is nearing the end of his or her
library career or who has
recently retired.
The Bethany J. Ochal award recipients played active leadership
roles at the national,
regional, and local levels and encouraged the professional
development of countless
members of our profession. Through their decades of service to the
profession of law
librarianship and their stewardship of their respective
organizations, this year’s recipients
truly embody the spirit of this award and law librarianship.
Coral Henning
Sacramento, California
Carol Ebbinghouse
Law Librarian (retired), 2nd District Court of Appeals for
California Law Library
Pasadena, California
Terry Long
Richmond, Virginia
Mariann Sears
Houston, Texas
Dr. Joel Fishman Professional Publication Award for 2018-2019
This award recognizes a GLL-SIS member’s contribution to the field
of government law
librarianship through a professional publication that promotes
government law libraries,
law librarianship, legal research, or public access to legal
information.
Harris County Law Library Staff
Pro Se Litigants Handbook and Manual para Litigantes Pro Se
Jean L. Willis, Chair
This award recognizes a Government Law Libraries Special Interest
Section member's
contribution to the field of government law librarianship through a
scholarly publication on
a topic of concern to government law libraries. The publication
must be authored by a
Government Law Libraries Special Interest Section member and have
been published in
print or electronically within the last year.
Stefanie Pearlman
Professor of Law Library/Reference Librarian, Schmid Law Library,
University of Nebraska
Persuasive Authority and the Nebraska Supreme Court: Are Certain
Jurisdictions or
Secondary Resources More Persuasive than Others?
The Nebraska Lawyer Magazine, March/April, 2018, pp 35 - 39.
The GLL-SIS award recipients will receive plaques to commemorate
their award-winning
work at the SIS’s Annual Business Meeting, Breakfast, and Silent
Auction on Sunday, July
14, 2019, at the 2019 AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in
Washington, DC. We hope
you can join us!
Congratulations are also in order for the following GLL-SIS members
and member
organizations who are 2019 AALL Award Recipients:
MARIAN GOULD GALLAGHER DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
Jacquelyn J. Jurkins
EMERGING LEADER AWARD
Anna C.B. Russell
MINORITY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AWARD
Marcelo Rodriguez
Research & Training Librarian, U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd
Circuit, New York, New York
EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AWARD
Harris County Law Library
Harvey Recovery Resources Webpage
2019 GLL-SIS Awards (continued)
Jean L. Willis, GLL-SIS Awards Committee Chair, Sacramento County
Public Law Library
Page 15 GLL News
King County Law Library
Harris County Law Library
Pro Se Litigant Handbook and Manual para Litigantes Pro Se
Thank you to the committee for their hard work this year!
2018-2019 GLL-SIS Awards Committee
2019 GLL-SIS Awards (continued)
Jean L. Willis, GLL-SIS Awards Committee Chair, Sacramento County
Public Law Library
GLL-SIS 2019 VIP: Martha Bergmark, Voices for Civil Justice
Jean L. Willis, GLL-SIS Awards Committee Chair, Sacramento County
Public Law Library
GLL-SIS members attending the upcoming conference in Washington,
DC, will have the
opportunity to meet Martha Bergmark founder and Executive Director
of Voices for Civil
Justice. Martha has been selected as the GLL-SIS VIP, and she will
provide the keynote
address at our business meeting on Sunday morning, July 14. On both
the local and
national level, Ms. Bergmark has played a leading role in the legal
aid and access to justice
movements.
Martha Bergmark is the founding executive director of Voices for
Civil Justice. Over four
decades, Martha has been a leader in the movement to fulfill
America’s promise of justice
for all. During her tenure as its founding president, the
Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ)
became an influential force for progressive change, scoring
significant policy and litigation
wins and growing to a $4 million annual budget with 35 staff at
three offices. She
continues to serve MCJ as a board member and senior counsel.
Martha previously served as executive vice president and president
of the Legal Services
(continued)
Jean L. Willis, GLL-SIS Awards Committee Chair, Sacramento County
Public Law Library
Corporation, administering federal
for programs of the National Legal Aid &
Defender Association. She began her
legal career as a civil rights and legal aid
lawyer in her home state of Mississippi.
Martha is a former Reginald Heber Smith
Fellow, Stern Family Fund Public Interest
Pioneer, White House Champion of
Change, and a recipient of the Kutak-
Dodds Prize and the ABA Section of
Litigation’s John Minor Wisdom Public
Service and Professionalism Award. She
is a graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Michigan Law
School and holds
honorary degrees from Oberlin College and Millsaps College.
Q: How did you get into legal aid?
MB: In order to work on access to justice causes, one model
available was civil rights
lawyer. Even though I’d sworn as a graduating high school senior
that I would not go back
to Mississippi, by senior year in college I knew I would go back.
And I did.
As a law student, I worked at North Mississippi Rural Legal
Services, the state’s first civil
legal aid organization. I also worked in Jackson at Community Legal
Services (now
Mississippi Center for Legal Services) as a Reginald Heber Smith
Fellow. These were
funded by the feds to shake up big city legal aid programs. We were
supposed to be
change agents.
My husband, Elliott Andalman, and I became a couple in law school.
Together with two
other University of Michigan Law School classmates, we opened a
civil rights law practice
in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and called ourselves a “legal
collective.” This was a 1970s-era
phenomenon emphasizing interaction with the community. Today it
would be called
“community lawyering.” I practiced with our firm for five years
doing both criminal and civil
cases.
Q: After five years, you founded Southeast Mississippi Legal
Services (now Mississippi
Center for Legal Services). How did that happen?
MB: In 1978, the Carter Administration expanded federal legal
services programs and
there were new grants available. We created the organization to
serve a nine county area. I
was the founding executive director.
Martha Bergmark
(continued)
Jean L. Willis, GLL-SIS Awards Committee Chair, Sacramento County
Public Law Library
There was not unanimous delight at having a Legal Services
Corporation-funded entity
there. The local bar passed a resolution of opposition, saying
there was no need for
creation of a federally-funded entity. But the bar was not
monolithic. There was support in
the bar association and even the judiciary. Pretty quickly, the
program was successful and
well received in most quarters.
Q: What is the future of the legal aid movement?
MB: Meeting the promise of justice for all is ever more
challenging, and not just for poor
and low income people. Middle class people lack access to justice.
As the movement
pioneers new ways for the poor to get justice, the movement will
play a big role in
delivering justice to all Americans.
I am privileged to have been involved in so many parts and phases
of the legal aid
movement. Others will carry on with creativity, resilience and
commitment.
Q: Can legal aid improve racial and economic justice?
MB: Civil legal aid is essential. It’s an essential tool for
progress on every measure of
human well being, such as access to health care, education,
housing, and employment
opportunity.
In a country with our history of racial discrimination, civil legal
aid is a strategy to address
the legacy of discrimination and inequity.
Q: What role does Voices for Civil Justice play in the access to
justice and legal aid
communities?
MB: Civil legal aid levels the playing field by providing legal
assistance and representation,
self-help centers, and access to information and forms so people
can know their rights. It
is essential to fulfilling our nation’s fundamental promise of
justice for all – not just for the
few who can afford it.
The trouble is that almost no one is aware of it. That’s why Voices
for Civil Justice came
into being. Founded in late 2013, Voices is a national
communications hub dedicated
exclusively to raising awareness of the vital role of civil legal
aid in helping people protect
their livelihoods, their health and their families.
Voices for Civil Justice seeks to deliver three things: 1)
increased visibility for civil legal aid
in the national media; 2) increased capacity for media advocacy
across the civil legal aid
sector; and 3) a new and strengthened “brand” of civil legal
aid.
Q: Before GLL SIS asked you to provide a keynote address at our
business meeting, were
you aware of how many law libraries in the USA play a significant
role in the legal aid/
access to justice communities?
Page 18 GLL News
MB: Quite honestly, no I was not, but I’m impressed with what I’ve
learned so far and look
forward to connecting with the law library community. We have many
areas of common
ground to share. Also, I’m delighted to know that your organization
circulated a recent
announcement about our All Rise for Justice initiative. I hope
there is interest in Voices for
Civil Justice in the law library community and that we can find
ways to partner in the future.
I look forward to meeting with the law librarian community at your
conference in July!
GLL-SIS welcomes Ms. Bergmark to the conference and to our Business
Meeting. Thank
you for providing our keynote address.
GLL-SIS 2019 VIP: Martha Bergmark, Voices for Civil Justice
(continued)
Jean L. Willis, GLL-SIS Awards Committee Chair, Sacramento County
Public Law Library
Interview with Jacque Jurkins
Kathy Carlson, GLL-SIS Membership & Mentoring Committee Member,
Office of the
Wyoming Attorney General
Jacque Jurkins, Director of the Multnomah County Law Library
(Portland, Oregon) since
1964, and long-time member of GLL, is being awarded one of the 2019
Marion Gould Gal-
lagher Distinguished Service Awards. I interviewed Jacque regarding
her memories about
her career and AALL. However, it should be noted, that Jacque did
not limit her profession-
al contributions to AALL. She is a founding member of the WestPac
Chapter and was also
instrumental in organizing the network of Oregon County Law
Librarians as well as the net-
work for Portland Law Librarians. Jacque has received numerous
honors from the Oregon
legal community but is especially honored to receive the award
named for Marion Gal-
lagher because she is a graduate of the University of Washington
program and studied one
on one with Marion.
To put things in perspective, how long have you been a member of
AALL?
I joined AALL in 1960 as a student.
And what committee and leadership positions have you held?
I don't remember which committee I volunteered for when I was a
student. But I believe
my first leadership position was Chair of the Scholarship Committee
in 1970. I have al-
most always been a committee member or committee chair including
the Statistics Com-
mittee, the Job Security Committee, the Relations with Publishers,
as well as a number of
Annual Meeting committees. I was on the Executive Board in 1973-75;
elected Vice Presi-
dent in 1983 and served as President in 1984-5.
What are some of your most treasured memories about being a law
librarian?
Basically, they are assisting a lawyer, judge, or lay person,
including prisoners, with their
Page 19 GLL News
research. There are so many incidents it is hard to pick one.
But I will share one: an attorney came in on a late Friday
after-
noon after the judge gave him the weekend to find precedent
for
his argument. I assisted him with his research. As it
happened,
I worked Saturday, in checking our morning mail I read a case
that came down that Friday afternoon from our Supreme Court.
It was right on the attorney's issue. I called him. He came in
and
read it himself. He won his case. The following day, his
secretary
called and asked me what I wanted for the help I gave him,
can-
dy? perfume? wine? I replied thank you, but no thank you, I
was
happy he prevailed. I thought that was the end of it, but no,
the
next day, a florist delivery came with a beautiful "thank you
plant." We have that plant today in the library. That "thank
you
plant" over the years has multiplied about 100 times.
Attorneys
and lay library users have expressed their gratitude for our
help
with a beautiful plant. My office looked like an a flower shop.
In
fact, our UPS man told a group touring the courthouse to go
to
the law library to see the plants.
How has the Association changed since you first joined?
It has grown from a few to many members. But I think the our
members are the same, only
the organization has become much more sophisticated and
diversified.
You studied with Marian Gould Gallagher. A lot of GLL members have
heard the name but
do not know much about her. What was it like to study with
her?
It was a wonderful experience. Since I was her only student that
year, her office was the
classroom. We talked one on one. Basically her discussions were
"how to" sessions with
follow up assignments involving her library and staff. Also, as
part of the program I assist-
ed teaching in her legal research classes. During that time she
involved me in just about
all aspects of the operation of her library. I truly feel I was
fortunate to be the sole student
that year. She prepared me well!
What advice would you give to a law librarian just starting
out?
One of the things I learned from Marian. Get involved!! Volunteer
for a committee, whether
it is an AALL committee, an interest group committee, or a chapter
committee. You will
meet great people and lasting friends. You will learn. You will
make a contribution to law
librarianship.
Kathy Carlson, GLL-SIS Membership & Mentoring Committee Member,
Office of the
Wyoming Attorney General
Emily Bergfeld, Bernard E. Witkin Alameda County Law Library
Through a generous grant from GLL-SIS, I had the opportunity to
attend the
2019 AALL Management Institute, held in Chicago on March 28 –
30th.
In January 2019, after ten and a half years working as a Reference
Librari-
an at the Alameda County Law Library, I was promoted to Library
Director.
Because I was new to both the Director role and to a leadership
position, I
was eager to complete AALL’s crash-course in library
management.
Although I was the only county/court law librarian in attendance at
this
year’s AALL Management Institute, the substance of the program was
rele-
vant across all law library types. Maureen Sullivan was a skilled
program
facilitator, positioning herself as a “guide on the side” rather
than a “sage on the stage.”
Throughout the structured yet highly participatory 3-day program,
Ms. Sullivan incorporated
frequent opportunities for small group discussions and for
self-reflection about course con-
tent.
Much of the program focused on managing library staff. One of my
key takeaways was the
importance of communicating clear performance expectations to each
library team mem-
ber, and establishing consequences when performance falls short of
this standard. We
learned how to use coaching and counseling techniques to help low
performers, while en-
suring that adequate training and support are available.
Checklists, benchmarks, and
deadlines can be important tools for keeping staff on track.
I benefitted greatly from discussions about resolving conflict in
the workplace, and having
difficult conversations with staff. We talked about identifying the
underlying triggers of con-
flict, and taking time to listen, take notes, and reflect before
reacting. Managing your own
emotions is key during times of stress.
We also discussed strategies for motivating staff who have become
disengaged or who are
reluctant to take on new responsibilities. It is important to
understand what motivates
each staff member and to establish what they like and dislike about
their work. Many non-
financial incentives can motivate staff, such as flexible work
schedules and formal and in-
formal recognition. Managers can also keep staff engaged by
involving them in decision-
making, reminding them of the value of their work, and giving them
some control over how
work is completed. When asking staff to work on stretch assignments
that place them out
of their comfort zone, it is critical to offer appropriate
resources and suspend judgment or
evaluation during the learning process.
The AALL Management Institute offers a solid framework for
approaching management
challenges in a law library setting. I gained many practical
skills, and enjoyed expanding my
professional network and learning from my peers. The written
materials and reading lists
are a fantastic reference.
Page 21 GLL News
Attending the AALL Management Institute increased my confidence and
shaped how I ap-
proach my new managerial role. I strongly encourage other court and
county law libraries
to complete this valuable training!
Equal Justice Conference 2019
Reflections on the 2019 AALL Management Institute (continued)
Emily Bergfeld, Bernard E. Witkin Alameda County Law Library
Aloha All,
I’m happy to share my Equal Justice Conference (EJC) experiences
with all of you.
The Equal Justice Conference is an annual gathering of legal
services and pro bono
advocates to share and learn about developments and innovations in
providing le-
gal services to low-income persons. The emphasis of the conference
is on
strengthening partnerships among the key players in the civil
justice system. I
love seeing law librarians at this conference, because I believe we
are key play-
ers in providing access to justice for the general public.
While my focus this year at EJC was reporting on Hawaii’s Justice
for All (JFA) implementa-
tion projects at various meetings (some of which I will be sharing
at our AALL panel in July),
I was especially interested in looking at workshops that addressed
workplace relationships
and fostering better communication among colleagues and staff. With
this in mind, I
walked into a packed presentation entitled “Recognizing &
Responding to Microaggres-
sions in the Legal Services Workplace.” What follows is my
experience, thoughts, and re-
flections, and how I am hoping to incorporate what I learned into
my work life.
Upon entering the room of more than 100 attendees (and despite
being in the very back
row), Lillian Moy, Executive Director of Legal Aid—Northeastern New
York, and moderator of
the panel, invited me to answer the question “Why did you come to
this session—out of all
sessions on the agenda?” My answer? “I have been witness to or
experienced what I think
are microaggressions in the workplace, and I was hoping to find
useful feedback and tools
on how to respond when something like that comes to pass.” Others
shared similar experi-
ences, some leaning into scenarios that ranged from microaggression
(off handed com-
ments that are supposedly ‘just jokes’) to clear racist or sexist
comments and behaviors in
public spaces. Immediately, the tone in the room took on a serious
nature, and one that
invited honest responses and questions.
The panelists briefly discussed the changing definition of
microggression--first coined in
the early 70s by Dr. Chester M Pierce as “…subtle, stunning, often
automatic and nonver-
bal exchanges which are ‘put downs’ of blacks by offenders.” Back
then, the definition
Jenny R.F.F. Silbiger
Jenny R.F.F. Silbiger, GLL-SIS Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, Hawaii
Supreme Court Law Library
was based on Dr. Pierce’s work and study as a full professor at
Harvard University, the only
Black full professor on faculty at the time.
Over the years, the term microaggression has been further expanded,
and in the words of
Dr. Derald Wing Sue, includes “every day verbal, non-verbal, and
environmental slights,
snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which
communicate hostile, deroga-
tory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon
their marginalized group
membership.
In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group
identity or experiential
reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group
level, communicate they are
lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority
group, threaten and in-
timidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment.”
Basically, acts that dismiss or
invalidate a person based on their race, ethnicity, sex, gender
identity, sexual orientation,
age, economic class, religion, and/or disability.
At every step of the way of this presentation, session attendees
were invited to share their
candid experiences. One woman shared about working as lead counsel
on a case for over
a year with around a dozen colleagues who happened to be men, that
after a particularly
long meeting, her male colleague told her they always looked
forward to her standing up
afterwards so they could see her ‘great legs.’ The added difficulty
with this is that her col-
league was someone she not only respected, but also had a
friendship with, complicating
her reaction from awkwardness to annoyance and then to
indignity—that after a year of
hard work she felt that comment reduced her to “a pair of nice
legs.” Whether he meant
his comment as a “compliment” doesn’t actually matter in the world
of impact. People can
have wonderful “intentions,” but their words and actions can have
an impact of unease
and disrespect.
1) Micro-assaults—explicit comments related to appearance, ability,
behavior. One of
the panelists who is a social worker, who also is a member of the
dwarfism commu-
nity, talked explicitly about her experience walking down the
sidewalk outside the
day before the conference. She saw a group of people across the
street and heard
one of them say, “Look at the midget!” That is an example of a
micro-assault, in
that the impact of the words stun, trap, or shame the person on the
receiving end.
On a grander scale, a micro-assault example would be a landlord not
renting to a
potential tenant due to race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual
orientation, religion, abil-
ity and/or economic class.
2) Micro-insult—things we say and think may be okay, comments that
are likely and
usually unintentional. For example, as an Asian American adoptee
growing up in
the midwest in a predominantly non-Asian community, I often would
get the ques-
Page 23 GLL News
tion “where are you from?” If I answered, Michigan, I would then
get a follow up
question, “No, really, where are you really from?” The line of
questioning is based
on how I look—though there are more than 17 million Asian Americans
living in our
country, this is a common question Asian Americans will encounter,
even if they are
2nd, 3rd, 4th+ generation US citizens. (Side note: At this point in
my life, I’ve be-
come inoculated to this question, and usually shrug it off with a
laugh if it comes
up—see response to microaggressions #2 below—however, this doesn’t
take away
from folks who share that this has had a bigger, negative impact on
their lives.)
3) Micro-invalidations—when words or behavior negate a person’s
feelings, opinions,
contributions. An example of an invalidating response would be in
the example of
the lead counsel receiving comments on her legs: “can’t you take
that as a compli-
ment?” or in the micro-insult example, “well, you’re overreacting,
they just want to
know more about you.” Those comments might sound benign, but they
have a neg-
ative impact—they invalidate the experience of the person receiving
the comments,
actions, or behavior.
Next, the panelists discussed the ranges of responses to
encountering microaggressions in
the workplace—ranging from no responses to confronting it directly.
While there are pros
and cons to all, something to consider is that in order to move the
needle further towards
inclusion and thoughtful professionalism in the workplace, finding
a way to respond in a
somewhat active manner can be helpful.
1. Bystander - No Response: This type of a response is usually one
of self-preservation
and also one that is born out of survival instincts. When
confronted with comments, it
might be easier in the moment to let it go and not react—as a means
of self-
preservation. The cost to this can be an internal emotional toll to
carry the mi-
croaggression, and it can also unintentionally perpetuate harmful
stereotypes. Given
this, the panelists described the choice between taking action
which also has an emo-
tional toll, and that over time, sometimes folks will pick and
choose when to respond.
2. Keep it Light, Keep it Moving — Using humor can help diffuse a
situation, but still result
in participants to take a moment to reflect. Or, instead of
breaking out into a full con-
frontation, a response could be a quizzical look, or even the word
“ouch, that didn’t feel
so great?” Even deflecting, “oh maybe you meant…” and fill in the
blank. The pros and
cons to this are similar to the Bystander response—how much energy
do we put in to
respond to microaggression, and what is the physical and emotional
toll to do so
3. Confonting Directly — this is about taking the time to address
specific words, actions, or
behavior. The panelists advised on focusing directly on the action
or words, rather than
the individual personally. Instead of “calling someone out,” it’s
about “calling someone
in” to have an honest conversation about what transpired and how it
can be improved.
Equal Justice Conference 2019 (continued)
Jenny R.F.F. Silbiger, GLL-SIS Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, Hawaii
Supreme Court Law Library
Page 24 GLL News
This can come from a colleague in a peer to peer if colleagues are
open to it. I’m also
taking what I learned from this session and wrapping it into my
supervisory role, in that
this would be my responsibility to take on should I encounter this
in my workplace.
Suggestions that the panelist offered were conversation openers in
such a meeting:
What did you mean by——-?, I understood you said, ——, but the impact
can be ——., Did
you mean ____?
Finally, the two overall takeaways from this session—(if you’ve
happened to just skim so far
and want to get to the nuggets of information to carry in your
backpocket, I’m totally fine
with that!):
1) Intention is different from impact. A person might think they’re
acting in camaraderie or
being funny in the workplace. However, the impact of words and
actions are valid and
need to be given thoughtful consideration. Microaggression can
injure and cause strife
and damage working relationships, and the impact does not have to
match the intention. I
can intend not to be run over while crossing the crosswalk while
training for the Kauai half
marathon last year, but an SUV rushed the light and hit me, anyway
(true story). I’m cer-
tain the driver did not wake up that morning intending to hit a
pedestrian, and yet I still
came out of the accident with a concussion, fractured wrist and
contusions all the same.
Intention does not equal impact. (I’m okay and healed, I’ve signed
up for the same half
marathon this fall—to which my friends humorously have judged my
thought processes as
questionable and I agree!—but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been
impacted by the initial un-
intended action).
2) The structure of disparity due to race, ethnicity, gender,
ability, sex, age, sexual orienta-
tion, religion, economic class, ability—this structure is something
we inherited. We cannot
go back in time and change the way that our country was formed and
the history of slavery
and discrimination based on all the classes protected under State
and Federal laws. We
cannot erase the injustices of the past, nor how they transformed
over time and descend-
ed into our present. No one today is to blame for creating this
structure. However, we are
responsible for educating ourselves with thoughtfulness,
intelligence, and also for doing
the hard work of reflection. We can use the privileges that we have
in our various roles in
the workplace to lift one another up. We live and work with people
from many different
places and backgrounds, who may have different perspectives, and we
also live in a chang-
ing world—what was considered acceptable in the past may not be
acceptable today. In
that sense, we are lucky to share our workspace with folks who may
have different opin-
ions, beliefs and senses of humor, so we can learn how to move
forward together.
In conclusion, we can’t change the past, but we can be civil,
respectful, kinder and more
thoughtful and open to diverse perspectives in the present. I’m
excited to think of all the
ways that we can connect with our diverse colleagues and friends in
the workplace, in or-
der to make way for a more inclusive future.
Equal Justice Conference 2019 (continued)
Jenny R.F.F. Silbiger, GLL-SIS Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, Hawaii
Supreme Court Law Library
Page 25 GLL News
Left to right, at the 2019 Equal Justice Conference: Aizul
Ortega,
Technical Services Supervisor, Travis County Law Library;
Jenny
Silbiger, State Law Librarian & Access to Justice
Coordinator,
Hawaii State Judiciary; Katherine Alteneder, Executive
Director,
Self-Represented Litigation Network; Jason Sowards, State Law
Librarian, Nevada Supreme Court Law Library; and Shawn
Haught, Director, Maricopa County Law Library
Left to right, at the 2019 Equal Justice Conference:
Jason Sowards, State Law Librarian, Nevada Supreme
Court Law Library; Aizul Ortega, Technical Services
Supervisor, Travis County Law Library; Jenny Silbiger,
State Law Librarian & Access to Justice Coordinator,
Hawaii State Judiciary; and Shawn Haught, Director,
Maricopa County Law Library
Please know that these thoughts, reflection, and experiences are my
own. I’m open to fur-
thering this discussion and am happy to answer questions about my
reflections.
You can access the full presentation online.
Measuring Up—Law Library Self-Help Services
Sara Galligan, Ramsey County Law Library
Sara Galligan
Law library services to self-represented litigants (SRLs) are
transformative—to the
library user and the library program. Libraries help fill the
justice gap where civil
legal aid is underfunded; this ever-evolving model of law library
service is both
exhilarating and challenging. While increased usage by SRLs
demonstrates the
library’s value, many disparities in service exist, especially
between urban and rural, and
small and large public law library services.
To measure progress that has been made, members of the Self
Represented Litigation
Network (SRLN) Law Librarians Working Group (LLWG) created a
research project to
assess law library services to SRLs across the country. The project
utilized a survey to
collect data; survey criteria represent best practices* for
assisting SRLs. The project will
focus on an analysis of survey results. It will describe how law
libraries measure up
against three levels of service: basic, intermediate, and advanced.
Survey analysis will
Equal Justice Conference 2019 (continued)
Jenny R.F.F. Silbiger, GLL-SIS Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, Hawaii
Supreme Court Law Library
also describe library collections, partnerships, staffing, and
self-help centers in libraries.
The research project was awarded a Lexis research grant in April.
The grant will be used to
hire two SRLN geospatial consultants who will provide graphical
summaries that display
survey results efficiently. Story maps will be created to concisely
interpret key aspects of
law library services. The maps will compare various components of
law library services to
SRLs—state by state—across the United States. Contact information
will also be easily
accessible so libraries can communicate with each other regarding
various characteristics
of a service or program.
The 2019 survey tool developed by the LLWG was distributed in April
with over 150
respondents. The target audience was AALL membership as well as the
members of the
LLWG. The survey also offered an opportunity for respondents to
identify innovative
programs and services not represented in the survey.
Survey findings will also be described in greater detail in an
explanatory text report.
Comparisons will be made to survey data collected in 2013 when over
150 law libraries
responded to a survey that gathered data about law libraries
services to SRLs. (see Survey:
SRLN Library Working Group National Self-Help in Libraries Survey ,
SRLN, 2013) The
2013 survey was a project of the Self-Represented Litigation
Network’s LLWG.
The results of the survey will be presented as a poster display
during the annual meeting in
July. As survey data becomes available, links to access the
graphical, interactive story
maps will be widely distributed through AALL and the SRLN.
Questions about the research
project can go to Sara Galligan or Joan Bellistri.
*Definition of Best Practices—Over the past decade, law librarians
have developed best
practices guidelines for SRL services. These have been researched
and publicized widely
through various publications and AALL programs. Two AALL resources
include:
1. Law Libraries and Access to Justice: A Report of the American
Association of Law
Libraries Special Committee on Access to Justice (2014)
2. Access to Justice: Best Practices for Public Law Libraries
(2016) (GLL Resource Guide
No. 5)
The promotion of best practices is intended to strengthen law
library services to SRLs.
The current survey was designed to measure the number of libraries
performing at the
three levels of service and will demonstrate how well programs
across the country are
meeting basic levels of service to SRLS.
Measuring Up—Law Library Self-Help Services (continued)
Sara Galligan, Ramsey County Law Library
For Incarcerated Citizens?
Reprinted with permission from NOCALL News
Mary Pinard
Johnson
Incarcerated populations have a strong need for legal information,
but limited ac-
cess to legal reference materials. Inmates often turn to outside
sources for help,
sending letters to numerous libraries, hoping someone will respond.
This hit-and-
miss approach leads to uneven access to legal information and
justice for many inmates.
Luckily, California inmates have access to materials outside their
institutional libraries
through a partnership with between the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabili-
tation (CDCR) and the Sacramento County Public Law Library (SCPLL).
Under this contract,
SCPLL uses its existing staffing and resources to provide document
delivery and reference
assistance to inmates at all California state adult institutions.
Unfortunately, this program
does not extend to California inmates housed out of state, or
inmates at city or county jails,
or at juvenile detention facilities.
HISTORY OF THE PROJECT
This project began in 1997, when the Mountain Valley Library System
(MVLS) contracted
with the CDCR to provide legal document delivery services to
California state prisons. The
CDCR’s obligation to provide legal material to its prisoners
springs from Gilmore v. Lynch,
319 F. Supp. 105 (N.D. Cal. 1970), affirmed Younger v. Gilmore, 404
U.S. 15 (1971). In
Gilmore, the Court held that the CDCR must provide adequate law
libraries in order to safe-
guard prisoners’ rights to equal protection and access to the
courts. The Court suggested
that the CDCR “expand [its] present list of basic codes and
references in the manner sug-
gested by this opinion.” The CDCR contracted with MVLS to provide
inmates with copies of
the materials suggested in the Gilmore opinion. Sacramento Public
Library housed MVLS,
but that library’s legal collection was inadequate to fill most of
the inmate requests. MVLS
therefore used SCPLL’s collection to fill inmates’ requests.
On July 1, 2006, North Bay Cooperative Library System (NBC) assumed
administrative re-
sponsibility for MVLS, and SCPLL assumed responsibility for the
CDCR Document Delivery
Contract. This arrangement was short-lived, though. In 2004, legal
publisher Thomson-
West had created a DVD product that contained the titles mandated
by Gilmore, which the
CDCR used as an onsite law library at each of its institutions. In
December 2006, the
CDCR determined that the DVD product was adequate to satisfy the
Gilmore rule, and
chose not to renew the contract with SCPLL or to open the contract
up to outside bids.
However, the CDCR soon realized that the electronic product was
insufficient, and in late
2008, sought to re-implement the document delivery program. SCPLL’s
bid was accepted,
and the library began filling requests again in January 2009.
In 2009, the CDCR implemented regulations (15 CCR 3124, also listed
in the CDCR DOM
Page 28 GLL News
Did You Know That SCPLL Provides Law Library Services For
Incarcerated Citizens? (continued)
Mary Pinard Johnson, Sacramento County Public Law Library
§§101120.11 and 101120.14) that require that all inmates have
access to a law library
that is sufficient to provide meaningful access to the courts.
These regulations require
CDCR to maintain at each prison, at a minimum, the complete and
updated materials that
were set forth in the Gilmore Injunction. The regulations also
require print or electronic ac-
cess to Corpus Juris Secundum, Federal Rules Decisions, and
California Jurisprudence
through an outside source. That’s where SCPLL comes in – we serve
as the outside source
for access to those titles. However, we do not limit ourselves to
just those materials. We
make a good faith effort to provide copies of any requested
documents.
WHAT SCPLL CAN PROVIDE TO INMATES
SCPLL provides document delivery, Shepardizing, and reference
services to inmates at Cal-
ifornia adult institutions. All requests must be reviewed and
signed by CDCR law library
staff before they are submitted to SCPLL. SCPLL cannot fill
requests submitted directly by
inmates.
We accept requests by mail, email or fax. SCPLL librarians review
each request, then staff
retrieves the requested materials from the library’s print and
electronic resources, and re-
turns photocopies or printouts by mail unless rush return via email
or fax is required.
Document Delivery:
SCPLL will provide photocopies of legal resources and materials to
requesting institutions.
Exact citations are required for retrieval of documents. Delivery
is limited to 200 pages per
request. For longer documents, we provide the first 200 pages of
the document, and rec-
ommend submitting a separate request for pages over 200.
Shepardizing:
Inmates may request a Shepard’s or KeyCite report for any reported
case. SCPLL will pro-
vide only the list of citing cases. Inmates can submit separate
requests for copies of any of
cited cases if they are not available in their institutional
library.
Reference Service:
Reference questions are requests for information or documents on a
particular subject,
which require librarians to search databases, catalogs, etc. to
locate information. We con-
sider requests that do not ask for a specific document by citation,
or have an incorrect or
incomplete citation, to be reference questions. This service is
limited to reference ques-
tions that we can answer with less than one hour of research. SCPLL
cannot provide legis-
lative histories, superior court dockets, pleadings, or answer
complicated reference ques-
tions that require in-depth research.
SCPLL will provide no more than 20 pages of information to answer a
reference question. If
the documents that answer the reference question are more than 20
pages, SCPLL will
Page 29 GLL News
Did You Know That SCPLL Provides Law Library Services For
Incarcerated Citizens? (continued)
Mary Pinard Johnson, Sacramento County Public Law Library
provide only a list of citations for these documents. Inmates can
submit separate requests
for copies of any of these documents if they are not available in
their institutional library.
WHAT CAN OTHER LIBRARIES DO
We understand that many law libraries receive letters from
prisoners asking for legal refer-
ence or research assistance. The best option is to refer them to
their institutional library,
where they can work with prison library staff to submit their legal
research requests to Sac-
ramento County Public Law Library through our contract with CDCR.
Tell the inmate about
this program so that they can work with their prison librarian to
request materials from
SCPLL. There is no charge to the inmate; all costs are covered by
the CDCR. If you have
any questions about this program or how it works, please feel free
to contact Mary Pinard
Johnson at SCPLL.
Law Library
Reprinted with permission from the Harris County Attorney’s
Office
Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan has unveiled the latest addition
to Harris County Law
Library digital outreach—the Digital Education Nook.
Ryan cut the ribbon on the new addition with Law Library Director
Mariann Sears, Law Li-
brary Deputy Director Joseph Lawson, and Gabe Baker, Community
Outreach Specialist
from the Harris County Judge’s Office.
“The Digital Education Nook is a section in the Law Library where
visitors can sit down and
watch on-demand video content,” said County Attorney Ryan. “These
videos cover a wide
range of topics relevant to both the general public and to
practicing attorneys.”
This new digital resource offers a self-help video collection for
those unable to afford legal
representation. The collection - made available in collaboration
with the Texas Office of
Court Administration - provides short tutorials on legal processes
that can help individuals
accessing the courts, such as “How to file a case?” and “How to
appear in court?”
Attorneys can watch, learn, and earn Texas continuing legal
education credit for free via
videos of experts who visit to share their knowledge at live
programs in the Harris County
Attorney Conference Center. The programs are recorded and then made
available for view-
ing through the Digital Education Nook.
“We’ve found that recent graduates still struggling with student
loan debt and small firm
Page 30 GLL News
tremendously from the free opportunities
to stay up-to-date with the latest technol-
ogy,” said Sears.
is also wheelchair accessible. The con-
tent and use of the nook is free in di-
verse formats. By providing viewing
equipment within steps of the court-
house, the Law Library is extending op-
portunities to individuals who might oth-
erwise be excluded from this information,
thereby increasing their ability to access
justice.
In addition, the Law Library will also be
launching a digital collection of Lexis-Nexis resources which can
be accessed on any device
on the Wi-Fi network of the downtown courthouse campus. The Library
has also expanded
its databases to include nationwide coverage, implemented automated
tools for legal re-
search, and offers access to Procertas, an online learning platform
for legal office technolo-
gy.
“We continue to innovate and be a leader – not only locally, but
nationally – in the effort to
promote open access to justice,” said County Attorney Ryan. “As a
legal resource destina-
tion, we take pride in being able to provide Harris County
residents with the tools to partici-
pate in government.”
About the Harris County Law Library
The Harris County Law Library opened in 1915 and has continued to
serve Harris County’s
legal information needs for more than a century. After joining the
Office of Vince Ryan, Har-
ris County Attorney, in 2011, the Law Library greatly expanded its
technology offerings and
educational opportunities. Ryan’s support for the revitalization of
the Law Library was rec-
ognized by the American Association of Law Libraries in 2016 when
he was named the Law
Library Advocate of the Year. The Law Library is open to the public
Monday through Friday,
8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visit www.harriscountylawlibrary.org for more
information.
Harris County Attorney Ryan Unveils Digital Education Nook at
Law Library (continued)
Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan, second from right, cut the
ribbon on the new
Digital Education Nook at the Harris County Law Library, June 7.
Director Mariann
Sears, right, Law Library Deputy Director Joseph Lawson, left, and
Gabe Baker,
Community Outreach Specialist from the Harris County Judge’s
Office, second from
left, were also on hand for the ceremony. Photo by Joe
Strange.
Michael Keever
My name is Michael Keever and I am, among other things, a very
inexperienced intern. I
came into the LA Law Library with no legal experience and no
hands-on library experience.
Though I am enrolled at perhaps the finest library school in the
country, USC, working here
is a totally new experience. I applied for this internship to
fulfill a school assignment and
chose this particular library because of the description’s emphasis
on building new sets of
skills and expertise. The other choice was a paid public library
internship, but I believe I
made the right choice. I told my supervisor, Esther, in a
reflection that this internship is an
investment; I am here to learn, and learn I have! My first two
weeks were filled with tours
of different library departments, lessons on how the library
functions, insight into how in-
formation is managed, and so on. This is exactly what I wanted, and
really what I needed
as a young and upcoming librarian.
The staff members are all very nice and helpful and the overall
atmosphere is very positive
and supportive. It feels like everyone wants me to succeed! At the
beginning, my supervi-
sors explained how they wanted to design a program catered to my
goals, so the work I am
doing is meaningful, exciting and fun! As an English major, I love
to write and to research.
This information brought a variety of writing and research-based
projects. My goals are to
learn and create new experiences. This information yielded shifts
working in different li-
brary sectors and admission to various classes held for the public.
In short, I highly recom-
mend this internship program. The value of these hands-on
experiences vastly exceeds
that of academic learning. The books cover the basics but the
practice is what challenges
and produces growth.
There are three things I think any prospective student should know
before starting an in-
ternship here. The first and most important is don’t be afraid to
ask a lot of questions. If
you are wondering or confused about anything, ask! This is a time
for you to learn, and es-
pecially if you have no legal background like me, legal vocabulary
can be like a foreign lan-
guage. The second is to be yourself. The best patron interactions
I’ve had were when I was
acting casual; chatting about things we had in common. People like
it when you are friend-
ly, and it’s easiest (at least for me) to be friendly and
accommodating when I am not wear-
ing a mask and feeling anxious. Number three is to take every
opportunity you can. The LA
Law Library, for example, provides a ton of different resources you
have access to. Interns
can go to the classes, learn about the different services, and help
with programs or clinics
offered by the library, for example, Lawyers in the Library.
Everything I’ve participated in
inspired some kind of growth or personal achievement. It is easy to
miss all of the small
opportunities an internship can provide and every law library, no
matter what size, offers
the best opportunity of all, boots on the ground real time
experience, whether it’s getting
to know the books, learning how to have good telephone etiquette,
shadowing at the refer-
ence desk, or writing instructions for accessing the library’s
databases.
For all of the reasons above, and more, I highly recommend
considering participation in
Hope for Inexperienced Interns
Page 32 GLL News
Michael Keever, MMLIS Student, University of Southern
California
the library school internship experience, either from the student
perspective or host side.
The library internship experience is a great value for the hands-on
experiences it promotes.
The lessons I’ve learned are invaluable to my personal and
professional growth. The bene-
fits to hosting a government law library internship are numerous,
but the most relevant to
my experience are these two. The first is investing in the next
generation of law librarians.
An internship provides library students with invaluable on-the-job
training. I’ve already em-
phasized how highly I value hands on experiences for those learning
new trades, and
though my opinion of working in a legal setting was dim and macabre
at first, the variety of
sources and the unfamiliarity I have with them excites me. I
wouldn’t think of law librarian-
ship as a career or even a broad interest without this internship.
Secondly, hosting an in-
ternship improves productivity. What if an intern could help your
library complete tradition-
al library tasks and smaller projects, while your full-time staff
continues to take on the ever-
growing number of new projects handed to the law library? A
well-managed intern program
allows libraries to gain additional staff at a lower cost.
I hope this short article gives you some insight into the great
benefit internship programs
offer for the inexperienced intern and the host as well.
Michael Keever is a graduate student (August, 2019) in the Masters
of Management in
Library and Information Science program at USC, Los Angeles,
California. Michael is a
cancer survivor who, in his junior year of high school, was
diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Although there were complications from a fungal infection the
surgery was a success. Mi-
chael went on to complete high school, a BA at UCLA and, as he
quotes at age 26: “live a
full life and all the good stuff.” Michael recommends, if no local
library school exists, GLL
members look for students who live locally while attending an
online graduate program.
He recommends posting an internship for your local government
library on their sites. He
also welcomes comments, questions and ideas. He can be reached
at
Page 33 GLL News
Leadership resources, in diverse forms and by various channels, are
important.
Looking at texts, there are a lot of them out there. This month’s
selected book
reviews have you covered. Membership and Mentoring Committee
members
Adriana Mark, Deputy Circuit Librarian for the U.S. Courts Second
Circuit, and
Malinda Muller, Director Patron Services at LA Law Library,
highlight a few options.
“We lose ourselves in books. We find ourselves there too.”
—Anonymous
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on
It by Chris
Voss with Tahl Raz, HarperBusiness (May, 2016)
A former lead hostage negotiator for the FBI
provides advice and tactics for negotiating in a
variety of life situations, from buying a car to
negotiating with employers, friends, family
members, partners, or children. The author
weaves storytelling from his hostage negotiation
experience with practical advice that emphasizes
so-called “tactical empathy” techniques: establishing
rapport,
creating trust, and actively listening. The writing is
straight
forward and conversational, and the appendix includes a
negotiation “one sheet” with steps and fill-in-the-blank questions
to prepare for a
negotiation.
This book would make a nice shelf companion to other well-known
negotiation books:
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (Roger
Fisher, William Ury, and
Bruce Patton) and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert
B. Cialdini) but much of
the content is available from the author in a variety of places.
Chris Voss presents some of
the tactics covered in this book at a TedX Conference at the
University of Nevada. He also
provides articles and resources, including a downloadable PDF of a
negotiation one sheet,
on his blog, Black Swan Ltd.
This is Day One: A Practical Guide to Leadership that Matters by
Drew Dudley, Hachette
Books (August, 2018)
The concept of this leadership book is to treat every day as if it
was the first day in a
leadership role. You might think the author of this book is Jeff
Bezos, founder of Amazon,
who is regularly quoted saying that every day at Amazon is treated
like day one. This book
Book Reviews—Leadership Resources
Malinda Muller, GLL-SIS Membership and Mentoring Committee Chair,
LA Law
Library
Adriana Mark, GLL-SIS Membership and Mentoring Committee Member,
U.S. Courts
for the Second Circuit
Page 34 GLL News
expands on the same concept but is written by Drew Dudley, a
leadership
speaker and consultant, whose TedX talk, “Everyday Leadership (the
Lollipop
Moment)” has been viewed over 4 million times on ted.com. Dudley
aims to
provide a step-by-step process for uncovering leadership values
that can be
applied every day. The author uses personal anecdotes and insights
from
CEOs, athletes, and even drivers and custodians, to illustrate
leadership
qualities and application.
This book is an easy-to-read introduction to leadership and would
make a
worthy gift for a recent graduate (high school and above). It is
not a deep dive
into leadership or organizational theory, nor does it add anything
new to the
field of leadership. There are activities throughout to find one’s
leadership
traits and values, each defined in the appendix. The appendix also
provides
several “action-driving questions” for each trait.
Dare to Lead by Brene Brown; Random House Publishing Group
(October, 2018)
Do you ever find yourself sitting on the fence between
knowing
how you ‘should’ be interacting with your staff in any real
time
moment but are instead sensing a ‘reactive’ knot in your
belly?
You sense it, you acknowledge it, yet you can’t get rid of a
most common behavior meant to help us, initially, in the wild
while transforming, at times, less helpfully when not
actually
being chased by a lion….
Armed with a doctorate in social work and an impressive
research background into human relationships, Brown’s new
book takes us off our corner office chair (or the reference
desk) and into the realm of formerly unimagined business
characteristics that, when considered, interestingly enough
turn our leadership relationships into effective human
relationships and a foundation for staff loyalty and
effective
service symmetry.
In typical Brené style, she straight away enters into the realm of
those places that scare us,
managing interpersonal relationships at work, and provides a
transparent and frank (when
is Brené not frank???) discussion on opening up to our
interpersonal and intrapersonal
relationships. Among many many many insights and ah ha moments,
where as managers
outcomes matter, is a crucial motivation to read this book: When
we’re engaged and show
Book Reviews—Leadership Resources (continued)
Malinda Muller, GLL-SIS Membership and Mentoring Committee Chair,
LA Law Library
Adriana Mark, GLL-SIS Membership and Mentoring Committee Member,
U.S. Courts for the
Second Circuit
up, those we manage also show up, contribute, and care.
Named one of the best books of the year by Bloomberg and based on
her deep research,
Brené shows us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step
up, recognize the
potential in people and ideas, and embrace our own vulnerability
for the benefit of creating
connection and a sense of belonging in our organizations. After
all, considering we do
spend a large portion of our lives at work, we can start right here
where we are in this
moment. Bravo.
The Power of Understanding People by Dave Mitchell, Wiley
(December, 2013)
For those familiar with the Myers Briggs Personality Test
applied in the workplace, where you can learn how each
member of your team likes to work and with whom, Dave
Mitchell follows this established and well respected approach
to integrating team dynamics while simultaneously
approaching the conversation with an element of lightness.
His approach is a humorous one, blending character types
with Hollywood, which adds humor without diminishing the
opportunity to recognize the different personality types
within
our sphere of influence, as well as have a look at our own.
(Yikes!)
The author’s insights help provide perspective on how we can
better to relate to others—interestingly, by providing us
with
techniques to better identify and understand the intrinsic
needs of others. While offered in the context of the business
environment, learning how to adjust to different personalities is a
skill set useful in
numerous settings where non-profit enterprises often mimic
businesses
When reading, it is possible you will hear some of yourself in
dialogues highlighted by the
author. It is an interesting way to create a space for vicarious
observation of our
interactions, communication dynamics, places of resistance and
potential ‘stuckness’ by
understanding more about what is behind our internal own workings,
those of our
colleagues, committee members, and our direct and indirect reports’
interactive styles.
The benefit of an opportunity to get to know one another better
can’t be understated.
Especially at a prospective quick read level coming in at a mere
208 pages. If you are
looking for fast access to an increased understanding about the
care and nurturing of an
integrated team network, this is a title to check out.
Book Reviews—Leadership Resources (continued)
Malinda Muller, GLL-SIS Membership and Mentoring Committee Chair,
LA Law Library
Adriana Mark, GLL-SIS Membership and Mentoring Committee Member,
U.S. Courts for the
Second Circuit
Page 36 GLL News
Get ready for some inspiring and educational programs at the Annual
Meeting! Listed be-
low are select programs which pertain to government law libraries
and/or involve govern-
ment law librarians. Please be sure to read the blue text which
offers a program preview
from the program’s presenter or moderator.
PROGRAMS
SUNDAY, JULY 14
There and Back Again: Bringing Law Librarian Skills and
Perspectives to Nontraditional
Jobs (A2)
11:30 am – 12:30 pm, WCC Room 150 AB
(Dawn Smith, Yale Law School; Justin Abbasi, Washington Supreme
Court; Tamara
Carson, Fowler School of Law at Chapman University; Rob Mead,
Washington State
Law Library)
“This presentation examines the various skill sets and experience
that law librarians can
bring both to and from nontraditional jobs. The presenters have
worked as an aide to a
state supreme court justice, a public defense administrator, a
director of prospective man-
agement research for an art institute, and an account
representative for a major legal pub-
lisher. We’ll aim to be practical, interactive, and transparent
about hard career choices.” ~
Rob Mead
Finding a Needle in a Stack of Needles: Best Practices for Alerts
(A4)
11:30 am – 12:30 pm, WCC Room 145AB
(Abigail Ross, Keller and Heckman LLP; Gretchen Van Dam, Library of
the U.S.
Courts for the Seventh Circuit)
Technology Contracts: Tips for Uncovering and Negotiating the
"Devil in the Details" (A5)
11:30 am – 12:30 pm, WCC Room 152AB
(Michael McSunas, Prize